/lit/ - Literature

>>8203047

Well, that was just one example of anime-like stuff. But anyway, they don't necessarily have a normal life in what I term "daylight Lovecraftianism". It's just that it's sort of Lovecraftian themes, in that for example you're worrying about the meaning of life and that there are surreal space monsters, like Jenova in FFVII and the witches in Madoka Magica. Instead of it usually being one person alone challenging this though, carrying an oil lantern through the cobblestoned streets of some abandoned town, in "daylight Lovecraftianism" the settings are usually very colorful and varied instead, and you typically have friends to share your horrors with. That's really the sole thing that makes me call it "daylight". Also it's usually more optimistic in that more often than not the characters actually manage to beat the alien monsters, and also solve their philosophical angst, usually relying on existentialist philosophy. For example at the end of Xenogears the main characters free themselves from their bizarre God so they can create their own meaning.

I'll be very surprised and happy if you can think of something similar Western. I doubt you can though. It seems to me this basically started with Neon Genesis Evangelion, and everyone who has done anything similar since is just aping that. The closest I've come is Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End which I also know made quite an impact on the creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion when he was a child. I don't think it's quite what I'm talking about though. Clarke is just exploring closely the idea that aliens would be completely incomprehensible if we actually encountered them rather than writing genuine semi-optimistic Lovecraftian horror in a science-fiction setting.